A German court has the old German National football goalkeeper Jens Lehmann sentenced to a heavy fine. On Friday, the Starnberg district court imposed 210 daily fees of 2,000 euros each for material damage, insults and attempted fraud – in total 420,000 euros. Lehmann has “consistently presented himself as a victim of the judicial system,” said Judge Tanja Walter.
However, he was not a victim but a perpetrator and presented “outrageous stories” in his defense in court. At the trial, which centered on a bizarre neighborhood dispute and a chainsaw incident, the Public Prosecutor's Office demanded a ten-month suspended prison sentence – and a fine of 216,000 euros.
Neighborhood dispute
Lehmann was charged with criminal damage, insulting and attempted fraud. At the heart of the allegations against the 54-year-old was a neighborhood dispute. The Public Prosecutor's Office accused him of using a chainsaw to break into his neighbor's newly built garage on Lake Starnberg in Upper Bavaria and sawing off a roof beam.
Prosecutor Kreutzer emphasized that there is “no doubt” that the allegations against the 2006 World Cup hero are true. Lehmann wanted to “simply outdo” his neighbor. He saw a high level of criminal energy in Lehmann and accused him of “vigilante justice.”
On the first day of the trial, Lehmann admitted to having entered the garage with a chainsaw in his hand, but cited memory gaps and spoke of false suspicions and character assassination. Lehmann's lawyer Christoph Rücker said, among other things, that Lehmann was suffering a celebrity penalty and that the accusations were “peanuts”.
Lehmann became the celebrated goalkeeper of the World Cup at home in Germany in 2006 – especially for his brilliant performance in the penalty shootout against Argentina in the quarter-finals. As an active player, he played for FC Schalke 04, Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal FC in London, among others. In the 1997 UEFA Cup final, he contributed to Schalke's victory over Inter Milan by saving a penalty in the shootout.